Human Body - Week 21 - Skin

Week 21: We made a model of the skin and then ate it.

Our skin is made of three layers; epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous tissue. The epidermis is the thin top layer which is significantly thicker on the soles of our feet and palms of our hands. The subcutaneous tissue is the layer of fat on the bottom that helps keep us warm. The dermis, in the middle is the main part of the skin. It contains nerve endings, sweat glands, hair follicles, and capillaries.

When we made blood and ate it the kids loved it, so I thought we would involve food in our skin project. Since skin is made of three layers, our dish also contained three layers.

• Epidermis - A think layer of chocolate mousse
• Dermis - Corn bread filled with raisins (sweat glands), zucchini (nerve endings) - we left out the capillaries
• Subcutaneous tissue - Banana slices (fat cells) and plain yogurt
• Hair - Pretzel Sticks

Our skin was created in a drinking glass so we could see the different layers.

First the banana (fat cells) were added.

The fat was surrounded with yogurt.

The zucchini nerve endings were difficult to see inside the baked corn bread, but the raisin sweat glands were easy to spot and taste.

To make the chocolate mousse epidermis I mixed two avocados, a container of plain yogurt, a banana, a zucchini, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, 1/4 cup cocoa powder and a little water in the food processor. It was spread in a thin layer on top of the dermis.

Then the hair was stuck into the epidermis and dermis and placed on top of the subcutaneous tissue.

 The kids decided to go for round two and created skin for breakfast in the morning.

Links to our other human body science activities are on our Science Page.

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